[Closed] School trip to cost £1650 quids per child

Got to go to netherlands in my 2nd year school trip, think there was probably 30/40 out of us out of 300 in the year that got to go. (If I remember right it cost 300 quid(including 100 spending money), and that would have been in 92ish and we went on the bus/ferry).

I was talking to someone about this recently and it seemed some of the trips getting touted these days do seem to be silly expensive, especially when they mount up to multiple trips over a few years. but I don't really disagree with offering them. We don't live in a socialist country, so not everyone is going to afford them. But I do reckon they are worth while.

Personally, that netherlands trip was only the second time out of the country for me, and i never got to leave the country again till I was about 21, so for me it was a very memorable trip that I still look on fondly.

For some children I reckon the school trips will be that valuable opertunity to experience a different country, but obviously the schools need to handle it well so that it doesn't put pressure on parents that can't afford it to send their children off on a trip every year.

We never really went abroad as a family, just the once, some my ma made sure we all go to go on the school trip, my older brother went skiing in switzerland, and my younger brother went sailing up the west coast of scotland (which although not foriegn, I was well jealous off!)

I was lucky re school trips and sports tours....but best one was rugby tour to S Wales. U12 and quite unusual at the tine and a real experience including sharing a bed with my opposite number in the shadows of port talbot steel works. Brilliant hospitality despite obvious hardship and a great week. Learned some real lessons that week.

You don't need to spend £££s to learn lessons in life.

I've been convinced for years that it's more about where the teachers want to go and what they want to do with each other than anything else...

Do you actually know any teachers that organise school trips abroad ?

I do, and trust me, they don't look forward to them as a holiday.

Johndoh is definitely winning on the school trips here. Iron Maiden picture discs AND norks? Surely adolescent male life can't get any better? 😀

I refused to let my youngest go on a couple of overpriced school trips .My local school also thought that a trip to the Globe theatre and involved shopping ,again no was the answer .£1600? I have never spent that on a holiday for me never mind a jolly for a kid

List of places teachers want to go on holiday:

1) somewhere far away from the kids they teach
2) and their bloody parents

Teachers don't do it for a free holiday, because it's not a holiday. whathaveisaidnow should volunteer as a chaperone for a school/team/youth club trip - you know, if it's such a laugh...

Neal, I know well that it wasn't your point! Was anticipating (and taking the piss out of) the way that some sections of the world like to try and remove competition from anything!

My local school also thought that a trip to the Globe theatre and involved shopping ,again no was the answer

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I was at a conference a few weeks back with schools from around South East Asia.

UWCA were there - United World College, Asia. Seen as one of the best schools in the world.

Their Outdoor Ed guy told me the following facts about them.

400+ Overseas trips per year
Only 5% going to Malaysia, their neighbour
$3million on flights for overseas trips
Trips are capped at $5k max
Cheapest is less than $500

Impressive figures

Was that the FOBISIA at BISP, Quirrel?

The figures are impressive. But if you're teachers who get free education for their children but look at the other costs with trepidation, you sympathise with others in the thread.

My boys go to school with children whose parents don't think twice about a few thousand pounds on a trip. We on the other hand, certainly won't be able to afford it.

The comment on teachers is very true. The kids fit in until a big expense comes up and then they don't.

Kids that get flown off to HK or Singapore for every holiday to go shopping, while the teachers kids have to stay in whatever country the school is in.

One of the conversations was just on that - one of the outdoor ed people had just paid 4000USD for his daughter to do an adventure trip to the US with school. He had organised it so knew it was a decent trip and one off so sucked it up and paid.

I never went on any school trips, mainly due to my poor behaviour.

Christ! I may have been on holiday...sorry; "an educational excursion" with THM. SS Uganda; introducing teenagers to rum,girls with exotic accents,and err..stilletos since the early 70's.
I organise a trip to Germany,Poland and Belgium every 30 months in a fairly hard school. The last one was a year ago on Friday and cost £760. That covered all admissions,food and £20 back to each pupil to spend on food once we got back to Dover. I organise it so their are no payments due in December or January and have a monthly bag pack that attendees can chip away at the cost. I take 48 pupils and have two sponsored places on that which are covered by a local employer and the parent council.I the spend 10 days stone cold sober and stressed as hell,in no way is it a holiday for me or the staff which accompany me. Each time I swear never again,but was pricing buses yesterday...I don't do those bloody hoodies and our selection process has involved pupils with fairly significant issues affecting their schooling. The point I am making is that it isn't a jolly for staff and pupils,and it isn't in most cases exclusive.

My last school was fee paying some of the trips impressive. I used to do the red sea dive trip. 10 days in Egypt diving. If you think a school trip is a jolly try that. You're responsible for the well being of every pupil with you and the potential for new divers to do something silly is huge.
Off to Zambia in a couple of weeks. We'll spend 4 days in a school then 2days sightseeing. All money from fund raising and we're hosting the Zambian party this week, all their costs paid from our fund raising. Roll on 7th July when its all over.

Go and raise some money - initiative

Easier for better off kids. Like all things in life if you come from an impoverished background you ate much less likely to have people around you who have the skills to help you. Shit I've known parents take the money to spend on drugs.

I dont think expensive trips are appropriate at state schools but the massive number of planning hours,stress and aggrivation from the kids whilst away mean I would never do one.

Go and raise some money - initiative

Raising £1600 is a tough call though, without resorting to "sponsor me to do something pointless and effectively pay for my [s]holiday[/s] football trip". There are only so many supermarket bag packing and car washes you can do. I've know a few trips manage to approach local firms to sponsor trips and get their logo on the trip hoodies etc and a few other ideas but it's still a big ask to raise it all.

The school has a HR Director.

Its an 'Academy'

Its to Barbados (if you took your child term time to Barbados and tried to argue that it was educational...)

We went to Calais and northern France, Scotland.

GF's school coached to Italy.

The school has a HR Director...wtf.

I've only just realised how much pressure these kind of trips must have put on my parents. Both of them earning about the UK average salary or less, yet in one year of school managed to send my on an £800 geography trip to Iceland and a £2500 school rugby tour to Japan, Hong Kong and Australia.

Iceland is somewhere my dads always wanted to go so wanted me to see it. And the rugby tour they viewed as a once in a lifetime trip so they scrimped and saved to get me on it.

All at a state school btw. And it wasn't just the sporty kids who got the best trips. The cricket teams went to Barbados, the bands went on trips all over Europe and there was a regular trip to India as an experience trip. There was even a trip to Everest base camp one year, and hiking in the Atlas Mountains another.

There was always money put aside to help those that genuinely couldn't afford these trips so that they didn't miss out.

The school has a HR Director...wtf

As you say, it's an academy - welcome to the brave new world of 'cost effective' school organisation. If the school is LEA run it would have access to the LEA's HR facilities. As it is standalone, just like any other organisation with 150-200+ staff it will need some sort of HR facility.

(if you took your child term time to Barbados and tried to argue that it was educational...)

Could be wrong, but I doubt very much this trip is happening in school time. Only educational visits normally get that permission.

My dad was a teacher he went on several trips. Furthest I got was torness power station. A day trip.

No overseas trip I've done has been in term time.

My daughter's at a Guide camp in the summer.

There's kids from all over the world going.

It's not just schools that give kids the opportunity for life experiences and then have to charge the parents the cost of the trip.

"It's making a divide between parents that can afford it and parents that can't afford it."

It's optional, it's potentially divisive, and no one has to go on this trip. It might be good for those that get to go and that seems a fair reason to have it.

Eldest currently in France on a school trip, both are at the Peak jamboree in the summer, little one has two nights at Edale with school next year, eldest will have a week at White Hall for a week next year with school and then a week in Belgium with the band he plays in.

We've not had a proper foreign holiday since the kids started school and Beavers/Rainbows!

I went on all the school and Scout trips as a kid, including skiing but we had no holidays either. I appreciate what it took by my parents going through it now with my kids.

But I am so glad my eldest has stated he has no desire to do the £1500 Japanese exchange trip in year 11!

Two great challenges should be part of this:

1. Go and raise some money - initiative
2. Get in a team - drive and determination

Good solid lessons in life. More of the same please. First things I look for as a recruiter. So start them early IMO....

And as the reality is both goals will be impossible for 90% of kids, the lesson is hard work fails.

My school ran an American exchange (1995 or 96 maybe?). Mates went, I didn't. Can't recall whether I asked. My parents happily forked out for taking the bus to Northern France, but weren't going to pay for a stonking great air-fare for me to go and learn American.

I was not scarred by this deprivation. I think my parents either said "no" quite a lot or didn't make like they had plenty of money (they didn't), so I didn't assume I could do stuff.

we re asked to find shy of 1600 for a netball tour of dubai.. got a year to find it so as we cant afford to just write a cheque, we ve set up a biscuit tin in the kitchen and are putting the change in from our pockets every evening, averaging just under 20 quid a week between the four of us..

Sounds(ed) like our situation ^

I did go away with the Cubs and Air Cadets though

I didn't think the £1600 or what ever that trip costs was that bad..
The secondary school my kids will probably end up going to does a dance/drama trip to New York which is well over a grand, the Explorer Scouts I help out with took some kids to Australia over Christmas - that was around £3k each.

Nobody says you have to do these things, however compared to what we've paid out in Childcare over the years, these trips will feel reasonable!

I think it's nuts. My school trips where to Brecon Beacons, Cheddar George plus a visit to the National History Museum.

My daughter did two World Challenger trips (Bolivia and Mongolia), these where £3,500 each for 5 weeks and she raised most of the money herself. £1,650 for a week is bonkers.

By the age mine reach that age, I reckon I will be quite happy to pay £3k to get rid of them both for a week whilst I go somewhere else for my 'holiday'. Gotta be cheaper than takng them with you.

Only school trips I remember going on were a day trip to Ribchester (part of History, we were studying the Ancient Romans) and a weekend in London (Accounts, visited Lloyds and suchlike). The London trip was interesting in that for many of us aged 14-15 it was the first night being "responsible" away from parents. There was illicit drinking and claims of shagging which were probably fiction; sadly, as a proto-geek I sat in my room like a well-behaved billy no-mates at night. Ho hum.

iainc jnr heads to Paris on Monday with his 1st yr (secondary) school trip. Most of the kids are going, so a bit of peer pressure. £650 for a 5 night trip, and we are advised to supply £20 a day spending money (which is held by the teachers and dished out daily). He's excited and we can afford it with a few variations to our own holiday plans, but a bit surprised that the school didn't encourage any fundraising activities..

No school trips when I were a lad. Oh wait, there was that time we got to go down Bolsover Colliery.

got to feel Angie's tits on the coach on the way back to the UK

Oh I was a bit startled like hora to discover that schools now appear to need an HR Manager.

but a bit surprised that the school didn't encourage any fundraising activities..

This always seems bit odd to me. Surely the money raised by "fundraising" will only be coming from the parents of the kids travelling so what difference does it really make if fundraising is done or not? Is it to try and get the kids to "earn" the trip rather than it just being a "handout"?

Fund raising can come from neighbours and friends, scout type "bob a job".

EDIT I realised I had forgotten my school ski trip. We went by bus to a small Italian resort with no snow 😐

Fund raising can come from neighbours and friends, scout type "bob a job".

Again orders og magnitude easier for those with well off parents.
This thread only serves to highlight the massive importance of social capital.

but a bit surprised that the school didn't encourage any fundraising activities..

This always seems bit odd to me. Surely the money raised by "fundraising" will only be coming from the parents of the kids travelling so what difference does it really make if fundraising is done or not? Is it to try and get the kids to "earn" the trip rather than it just being a "handout"?

He also plays in a local footie team and they do fund raising for away trips by bag packing and the like at local Morrisons - quite effective and certainly can raise a decent amount

Fundraising is all well and good but if you live in a small village it's a pain in the arse.
Either every kid who's going knocks on your door asking for money or their parents badger you when you're trying to have a quiet drink in the local. There's usually at least 10 kids who want your cash every year.
I wonder what response I'd get if I went round to their house begging as they do so I can have a nice holiday.

He also plays in a local footie team and they do fund raising for away trips by bag packing and the like at local Morrisons - quite effective and certainly can raise a decent amount

This is also bloody annoying. I rather give my cash to a decent charity like Marie Curie, Mind or a local animal shelter personally. Being forced to give cash to a local football team as they pack my bags is really not what charity should be about.

^^^^ fair point, but in my case, and the reason I said I was surprised they aren't doing any fundraising, its that we live in a large town, with all the main supermarkets represented and fundraising through bag packing etc is commonplace with kids sports teams, scouts, cubs etc. Experience shows most shoppers will chuck some change in a bucket. The football ones I have helped with we have arranged half a dozen kids, rotating every 2 or 3 hrs, with some parents in the background (required by store and club for security/safety) and have regularly raised over 1 or 2 K in a few Saturdays. When a team of 20 kids plus helpers are heading off on a coach for a weekend to a tournament this goes a long way to helping parents with the costs, which many cannot really afford.

Door to door stuff is not allowed by the football clubs and Scout groups my kids are in and I wouldn't have thought schools would be keen on it either.

EDIT - just seen your edit. If it annoys you, which is your prerogative, its easy just to say no thankyou to the bag packing and not put anything in the bucket - many people do that, interestingly often the more affluent appearing ones 🙂

many people do that, interestingly often the more affluent appearing ones

Well if they are anything like me, they will probably be paying by card and don't have cash in their wallet.

^^^ yeah, we need to up the fundraising tools and get card readers I reckon 🙂

No school trips when I were a lad. Oh wait, there was that time we got to go down Bolsover Colliery.

Trip down 't pit!! LUXURY!! Eeeh when I were a lad.....................

Again orders og magnitude easier for those with well off parents.
This thread only serves to highlight the massive importance of social capital.

Experience shows most shoppers will chuck some change in a bucket.

Well, yes. Because you're standing at the checkout and some kid starts grabbing your stuff and putting it in bags, you feel a bit of a tit if you don't put some money in the bucket.

It's not earning the money, though, it's extorting it.

It's not earning the money, though, it's extorting it.

Bring back hanging for collecting money at checkouts! Society has gone to the dogs etc...

Ben - maybe that's what happens in the West End, not up in EK 🙂

Many folk don't want their bag packed, that's fine. Some people chuck a few coins in regardless, that's fine too.

I reckon if kids were 'grabbing your stuff' the store would be pretty sharp on having a word/stopping support for the process.

Extortion is taking it a but far...

iainc - Member
interestingly often the more affluent appearing ones